DCL carry-on alcohol policy changing Sept. 30 2015

[sweetpee_1993]

yup they do, that's why I can't feel too bad about the policy, if you think about it. I can see both sides of it. My dad brought alcohol on, but also buys drinks and tips, like I am sure many others here do, but then there might be the ones who don't. But knowing bartenders/servers, etc. I just step back real quick and thing would I bring alcohol to dinner on land unless it say BYOB, so really I do see both ways it works.

In all seriousness, we did realize early on that bringing our own drinks into venues where service was active might not be kosher so we made it a point not to. Yes, we bought drinks and tipped even tho we also had our own bottles back in our stateroom. We realize those people are trying to make a living, too.

 

[Cruise]

This whole thing has just put a bad taste in my mouth. I am no longer excited about my upcoming trip, not because I can't drink (I still can, obviously) and not because this policy even affects me (it doesn't, really), but because this is just another example of how the brand I know and love is not what it used to be. I had heard that while things might be going wrong at the parks and elsewhere, DCL was a last remaining bastion of excellent Disney service. That's clearly not the case. These recent DCL changes, combined with a number of recent WDW changes I'm not too fond of either, make me think that perhaps the magic really is dimming. It makes me worry that the investment I made when I bought into DVC last year was a poor choice. I have been so excited about everything coming up...this trip I have planned...Star Wars...Toy Story expansion...changes to AK...and now....I don't know. These past few days I just haven't been able to raise the excitement anymore. What's the point of all the park expansions and the like if Disney customer service is gone?

I was trying yesterday to think back to when the "magic" started waning for me. And I think I remember my last truly magical cruise being in 2010 which was right before the Dream launched. I've done 4 cruises since then, but they've all been on the "classic" ships and the customer service has definitely gone downhill. Don't get me wrong, there are still those CMs that seems to go over and beyond, but there have been fewer and fewer of them each cruise. I obviously can't comment on the customer service on the newer ships.

But, considering the timing for me, I just have to wonder if this has to do with crew placement and preferences in regards to the newer ships.

 

[DMMarla07860]

From the NCL website:

All guests are prohibited from bringing alcohol on board our ships. Please note that with the exception of Wine and Champagne, all guests are prohibited from bringing alcohol on board our ships. If you purchase any alcohol at one of our ports-of-call or in our onboard shops, we will safely store your purchase(s) and either on the final night of the cruise or the morning of debarkation it will be available for pick up in a designated area.Wine & Champagne Policy Guests may bring bottles of wine and champagne on board. When bottles are brought on board and served or consumed in any restaurant, public room area or in their stateroom, a corkage fee will be charged according to bottle sizes noted below. 750 ml Bottle: $15.00 1,500 ml Magnum: $30.00 Wine or champagne sent directly to the ship by travel agents, friends, family, etc. or from another retail source, are subject to the same fees. Box wines are not allowed on board.
http://www.ncl.com/faq#can-i-bringing-alcohol-board

So, no hard liquor. You may bring any amount of wine or champagne, but all bottles (regardless of where you consume them) are charged a corkage fee. Even gifted bottles of wine/champagne. Any alcohol (hard, wine or whatever) purchased in ports of call will be tagged and held until the end of the cruise.

cool thanks for that info, like I said before not bringing any, but always good to know the info. It's only a 4 night cruise that goes to Cozumel. And it's a special sixth man cruise so from what I heard they have drinks that are special names after the songs lol, so figured I'll try that and then beers.

 

[DMMarla07860]

In all seriousness, we did realize early on that bringing our own drinks into venues where service was active might not be kosher so we made it a point not to. Yes, we bought drinks and tipped even tho we also had our own bottles back in our stateroom. We realize those people are trying to make a living, too.

I only brought a drink from the room once out in public, that was beer I poured in a cup and had started drinking before leaving room so finished by time I got up to deck 4 and that was after a free drink on formal night haha, rest of the times I buy and tip at bars. The times I had brought stuff for me on I didn't drink any or did the last two days of cruise since was barely in the room. And buying drinks at bar you can meet awesome bartenders, haha I swear each cruise I seem to get one free drink on a tab somewhere. They must love me or something and each time I was like I got this and wasn't charged

 

[jlynch924]

Maybe it shouldn't be an accepted euphemism. Did you know the history behind this euphemism? Have you seen the pictures? Why not, in keeping with the Disney theme say that they were following Mary Poppins, A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. I have kept my silence through plenty of posts saying drank the Kool Aid even though it jolted me everytime I saw it. There was even a thread with Drank the Kool Aid in the title. You can illustrate points using different words, and learn what is behind the phrases that come into being. As for phrases for following the tide, there are plenty that have no death implied.

Yes, I'm well aware of what it came from.

 

[Heather Jensen]

Our travel agent just told me about this today and we were bummed!!

 

[TLSnell1981]

We haven't cruised with DCL in over a year and nothing is currently booked. Prices are so out of control and Disney continues to gouge. Really, only wine..NO RUM?!?!?!

I have been researching a trip for our entire family (20+). I had hoped to book when the new itinerary is released this fall, but maybe not. I had to cancel the last family cruise when they changed the rules for rebooking dummy dates (missed our target by 3 weeks and no other options). It was very disappointing. DCL is becoming a pain.

 

[phinz]

I don't know which is worse, the comparison to the alcohol policy and the Holocaust,

I will repeat once again: It was an analogy, not a comparison. SMFH. Read the entire thread before commenting. Quit looking for things to be offended by and try and actually see the point that was being made.

I give up. You guys can have this forum. There are far too many people in this world who have a complete inability to actually read and comprehend the intent behind things.

 

[ASchwa]

I will repeat once again: It was an analogy, not a comparison. SMFH. Read the entire thread before commenting. Quit looking for things to be offended by and try and actually see the point that was being made.

I give up. You guys can have this forum. There are far too many people in this world who have a complete inability to actually read and comprehend the intent behind things.

I have read this thread from the first post. I have no problem with people being disappointed about DCL's alcohol policy change. Did I make a comment about that? Did I write against anybody who posted and said I am canceling my cruise, I am disappointed in Disney's bait and switch tactics and then ideas on how to smuggle rum on the ship? I read all the posts. All 47 pages. I know people who went through the camps in WWII. Have you ever seen a tattoo on the arm of a person you interacted with on a regular basis? I have. Did you ever go to a concentration camp and a death camp where people actually died? I have. I do agree that your quote about the Holocaust was an inappropriate analogy to the disappearing perks on DCL. I was agreeing with the poster who made the comment and then I put in what was jolting me. I'm sorry you feel you have to leave, usually I have no problems with what you post.

 

[perditax]

Season 1 was good.

But it's so sad the way Oliver Queen can almost never find a shirt.

 

[SirDuff]

I will repeat once again: It was an analogy, not a comparison. SMFH. Read the entire thread before commenting. Quit looking for things to be offended by and try and actually see the point that was being made.

I give up. You guys can have this forum. There are far too many people in this world who have a complete inability to actually read and comprehend the intent behind things.

I wondering if, perhaps, you are the one who doesn't know what the word analogy means (as you earlier accused another poster):

From Merriam-Webster:

a comparison of two things based on their being alike in some way

: the act of comparing two things that are alike in some way

Note the word COMPARISON in both lines.

I understand where your post was coming from, but to keep telling people that it was an analogy and not a comparison is pretty silly given the definition of analogy.

 

[perditax]

As an aside to the fascinating historical and linguistic debate going on (cough), I discovered that most of the people in my (small) roll call didn't know about the new liquor policy OR the autograph thing. Our sailing won't be affected by the former, but it will be affected by the latter, and there were a lot of unhappy people as of yesterday. They all said their TAs hadn't told them any of it.

If you're part of a roll call for a sailing and these things haven't come up, may be worth warning others who don't get out to the main forums.

 

[SirDuff]

As an aside to the fascinating historical and linguistic debate going on (cough), I discovered that most of the people in my (small) roll call didn't know about the new liquor policy OR the autograph thing. Our sailing won't be affected by the former, but it will be affected by the latter, and there were a lot of unhappy people as of yesterday. They all said their TAs hadn't told them any of it.

If you're part of a roll call for a sailing and these things haven't come up, may be worth warning others who don't get out to the main forums.

And that, I think, is one of the biggest problems with the policy change(s) - the speed with which they are being implemented and the lack of clear communication about it.

 

[TeenaS]

I'm on the Fantasy on October 10th. Yesterday I got the email about things I can do on the cruise and about dining, the adult areas, etc ...absolutely nothing about alcohol policy. If a friend of mine hadn't told me which then caused me to find this thread, I would have shown up with our box of wine and bottle of Jack ... Very poor communication!!

This is #23 on Disney for me. We are also long time Celebrity cruisers. We prefer sailing from Port Canaveral but will now start making the longer drive to Miami and Lauderdale. We get free cocktails before dinner on Celebrity and there are far less kids. We do prefer the cabins and bathrooms on Disney. But since Disney has not adjusted their prices to standard industry practices, or added casinos like standard industry practices, I think October 10th will be our last Disney cruise.

 

[Bee2u]

I'm on the Fantasy on October 10th. Yesterday I got the email about things I can do on the cruise and about dining, the adult areas, etc ...absolutely nothing about alcohol policy. If a friend of mine hadn't told me which then caused me to find this thread, I would have shown up with our box of wine and bottle of Jack ... Very poor communication!!

This is #23 on Disney for me. We are also long time Celebrity cruisers. We prefer sailing from Port Canaveral but will now start making the longer drive to Miami and Lauderdale. We get free cocktails before dinner on Celebrity and there are far less kids. We do prefer the cabins and bathrooms on Disney. But since Disney has not adjusted their prices to standard industry practices, or added casinos like standard industry practices, I think October 10th will be our last Disney cruise.

Your post would be a great letter to DCL.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I don't know which is worse, the comparison to the alcohol policy and the Holocaust, or the enjoyment of Disney to Jim Jones in Guyana when people say we drank the Kool Aid. To give people a brief history, in November of 1978, over 900 people were found dead in a community in Guyana who were members of the People's temple. From recordings and a few eyewitnesses who survived, they had drunk Kool Aid with poison in it. It was believed that most drank willingly. What was not immediately known was that babies were injected, a few adults were tied up and injected and at least one 12 year old was forced by adults to swallow the Kool Aid after she spit it out 3 times. I understand that almost 37 years ago is ancient history to some people, but I do remember the pictures at the time and later when I studied Jim Jones and his cult.

It didn't offend me. I kept it in context. Just sayin'.

 

[Iamaplanner]

We take one family vacation per year - like others, a lot of thought (and money!) goes into it. For us, DCL has been a perfect fit because everyone is happy! The kids love the clubs and the characters and all of the fun things things DCL does (pirate night, fun times in Animator's Palate, etc). For mom and dad, we love that we can have some alone time and enjoy the food and other perks - one of those being the liberal carry-on alcohol policy. We are Canadian so with the dollar being so terrible right now, this will hit us even harder (assuming we buy more drinks on board). Is this new policy a deal-breaker? Maybe. Maybe not. Will it lead us to do some research into other vacation possibilities? Definitely. We do take only one precious vacation per year......

 

[IrishCowboy]

I don't know if cast members care about the policy, but from what some of the bartenders did tell me is true. most of them agree that it should have happened a while ago.

That is a not a surprise! Kinda like your local butcher wanting to outlaw vegetarians!

 

[C6PT7]

That is a not a surprise! Kinda like your local butcher wanting to outlaw vegetarians!

I was going to say a turkey voting for thanksgiving!

 

[Belle1997]

How to fill up bingo on the cruise before the mega jackpot. Win a bottle of Rum you can drink during the cruise. Oh and free pass to get something signed by the characters through the now extinct Mickey Mail. Though I totally understand The Mickey mail and though it is a perk that is gone I can not complain because I know it must have just gotten way to much.